Breathe for Me
by TurianAngel
Summary: Elena Dyantes wants to join the fight against the Titans in order to help humanity, but she's not even completely human. [OC x Various]


It was just another day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but that didn't stop the painful anxiousness in the deep trenches of my gut. I felt as though the hours ticking away were leading to something that was going to be very bad, and I knew I was not the only one who felt it. My family was just as restless as I was although I didn't show it as much as they did. Whereas my mother was redoing laundry that was already clean to keep her mind off of things, I had pulled a chair up to the window so I could sit there and watch what was happening outside. My younger sisters, Mabel and Maralynn, sat at the table, Mabel tapping her nails on the wooden surface as they played a game. My younger brothers, Juvant and Hayden, were off in the back bedroom, fighting with wooden, makeshift swords—something they only did when they felt the urge to preoccupy themselves.

So far, all I could see outside the window were passersby. Some were holding bags, hands of their significant others or children, or nothing at all. As I watched a few children go running by, a sigh left my lips. My twin brother, Elix, snapped my attention to his direction as he pulled up another kitchen chair and took a seat in it. I raised an eyebrow at him as he smiled at me.

"Mom," he said, turning to look in her direction. "Can Elena and me go outside?"

"I," I corrected him. "Elena and I."

My mother smiled at me and nodded to us. "Yes, but stay close! If anything happens, I want you to get right back here!" I was curious what my brother was up to as I followed him towards the front door. "Be back in two hours for dinner."

"We will!" I followed him out the door, Elix holding it open until I was out. It slammed shut and he motioned for me to follow him as he took off running down the alleyway.

"Where are we going?" I asked, following along behind him.

"I don't know," he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I just got tired of sitting in there moping around."

"Moping? You weren't even—"

"Let's play a game!" he cut me off. I raised an eye at him, about to ask what game when my question was answered. His hand reached out and he poked my cheek. "Tag! You're it!" His feet carried his thin body away from me, adrenaline probably pumping through his veins.

"Ugh! That's not fair!" I pouted for a few seconds before starting to follow after him on the dirt road. Elix was always fast, but I was just a little faster. I guess a head start was fair for Elix, then? We passed by other kids, adults and a few stray animals as we chased after each other. Even as I chased my brother, I was still worried. But everybody else just seems so nonexistent to that tense feeling in the air. Then again, they are just humans.

My brother was only a few feet ahead of me as we passed another alleyway. I was about to go right past it, but I stopped while Elix kept going. I took a few steps back and peeked around the corner. I thought I heard yelling, and I did. There was a small, blond boy pinned to the wall by one bigger kid with two backing him. My eyebrows furrowed at the sight, recognizing the blond boy as Armin Arlert. I saw him around Shiganshina every now and then but I never talked to the kid. He was pretty smart from what I heard.

"What's wrong, heretic?" one boy asked. "If you don't like it, let's see you hit back!"

"Y-yeah, right! That means stooping to your level!" Armin retorted. I could see that the poor boy is nervous.

"Say what?!" the boy is taken aback but he doesn't let Armin go.

"You know I'm right! That's why you have to resort to violence. Because you can't argue back! Which means you concede defeat to me, does it not?!" I felt a smile tugging at my lips. I barely knew the kid, but I enjoyed having intelligent conversations and he definitely seemed like somebody who could hold a conversation.

"Shut up, smart ass!" The boy raised his fist and I decided that now was my time to intervene.

"Hey!" I yelled. I started to walk down the alleyway and the boys turned to watch me. I ran down the alleyway in a light, purple dress that fell to my knees. I had on white flats and a purple pearl bracelet that was similar in color to my dress. Even though I wasn't in the best fighting material, if it came to it, I would step up to the challenge. "Leave him alone!"

Four sets of eyes snapped in my direction as I came to a stop a few feet away. "Why?" one boy asked. "You don't know the situation, little cutie— move along and I'll drop by your house later." He sent a wink my way and I made a fake gagging noise.

"How about this— you move along and I won't have Elix Dyantes stop by your house later." All of their faces went pale, even Armin's, because while they may not know who I am by looking at me, I know that Elix is very famous around town because of how many fights he's gotten into with people like those three bullies.

"Elix, huh? What's he to you? Your boyfriend?"

"No, actually," a voice said from above me. Say the devil's name and so he will appear, I think to myself with a smile. "I'm her twin brother." There's a flash of dark blue in front of me and Elix jumps down from the roof of one of the houses, his short blue hair settling as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The three boys didn't bother replying. The one dropped Armin and they started to run away. I smiled as I watched them and stepped past Elix. I walked up to the blond who had slumped to the floor and I held out a hand to him. He looked up at me and I realized his left eye was a little bruised and he had a few scrapes on his cheek.

"Hey," I said. "You're Armin, right?" He hesitates before nodding and taking my hand. I pulled him up onto his feet. "Nice to meet you. I'm Elena and this is my brother, E-"

"Elix," Armin shyly finishes my sentence as his eyes dart towards my brother. Elix's golden eyes gleam in the sunlight as he steps forward to stand by my side.

"Good afternoon, Armin," he says as though they're best buddies. "Nice to see you're staying out of trouble."

He nervously chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck. "Y-yeah, same to you, Elix... I-I didn't know you had a twin sister. You don't very well look too similar."

Elix chucked an arm around my shoulder and pulled me to his side. I smiled as Elix motioned his hand between our eyes. "Our hair color may be different, but our eyes and everything else is pretty much the same."

Armin's eyes darted between the two of us, taking in our features. Slight recognition flashed in his eyes. "A-ah! I see it now..."

"Glad to hear that," Elix said, releasing my shoulders. "So, what did you do now, Armin?" The three of us started to walk down the alley together, Elix in the middle of Armin and me as though he was trying to keep distance between us. I could hear the joking, teasing tone in Elix's voice.

"All I-I said was that I think Humanity has to step outside the walls at some point..."

"Ah," Elix nodded his head. "That explains everything."

". . . Am I wrong?" Armin asked, looking at the ground as he walked.

"I don't know," Elix shrugged his shoulders, giving it honest thought. "Everybody has opinions. Yours is valid but so is theirs."

"No," I shook my head. "Armin, you're right! Humanity does have to step out of the walls at some point. We can't keep cowering like chickens."

Neither Elix or Armin replied for a minute or two, but I didn't care. I saw Armin smiling to himself and Elix knew that was my opinion, so it didn't bother him. Armin was first to continue the conversation, although on a different topic. "Elena... I've only seen you around school a very little bit but I see Elix a lot... why is that?"

"I have different classes than Elix. Because we're related, they put us in different classes so they don't risk us fighting, even though we get along ninety-eight percent of the time. And you wouldn't see me during lunch because I don't eat in the lunchroom. I try to go as unnoticed as possible."

"O-oh... well, you've been very successful at that."

The three of us walked around for a while making small and pointless conversations but soon we were stopped by a sudden flash of lightning and a dust cloud appearing around a part of the fifty meter wall. We were in something close to the town square as everybody's attention was pulled up to the area. It took less than three seconds for my heart to start pounding in my chest. I looked over at Elix, and he had a calm expression on his face like he always did but I could tell that he must have been at least a little nervous. Twin-telepathy and whatnot.

As the dust started to clear, whimpers and childish cries arose from the civilians around us. Easily looking over the edge of the wall, there was a Titan. It had no skin on its face whatsoever. I could clearly see the muscle structure and its teeth. And yet, the only thing that scared me was the fact that it was over fifty meters tall.

"E-Elix," I started to say, but I couldn't get my sentence out. There was a strong gust of wind that pushed through the town as part of the wall crumbled. People started to shriek, cry and yell. For the first few seconds, everybody was frozen, but moments later, everybody's feet kicked into gear as Titans started to flood in. Armin, after some words from Elix, went off to check on his grandfather. "We need to see if mother and them are all right!"

"They're fine," he said, grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the dock. "We need to get going! If we go to the house, they're going to be gone and we're going to only risk more time getting ourselves hurt!"

"O-okay," I said, following my only older sibling.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Mop-Top!" Instructor Shadis hounded on Armin.<p>

"Sir!" I heard Armin's voice follow through the deadly silence.

"What's your name, maggot?"

"Armin Arlert from Shiganshina, sir!" He saluted the instructor while most of the people around me held their breath, terrified of making the slightest noise.

"Wow, seriously? Why would your parents curse you with such a dumb name?"

"It was my grandfather, sir!"

"Cadet Arlert, why is a runt like you here?" Shadis was standing right in front of Armin, his arms behind his back as he stared down at the young boy.

"To help humanity overcome the Titans!"

"That is delightful to hear! You're gonna be a great light snack for them! Row three, about face front!" He turned Armin so he faced the other way. Even I was nervous although Shadis was nowhere near me yet.

"What do you call yourself?" Shadis asked some blond kid.

"My name is Tomas Wagner. I'm from the Trost District!"

"I can't hear you!" Shadis replied, forcing Tomas to speak up and repeat himself several times.

Eventually he came to a boy with short, two-toned brown hair.

"What do we have here?" he asked.

With a salute, the boy said, "Jean Kirshtein, sir, from the Trost district!"

"And why are you here, cadet?"

There was a short pause, then, "To join the Military Police, sir. The best of the best!"

"That's nice. You want'a live in the interior, do ya?"

"Yes," Jean said, earning a headbutt from Shadis.

"No one told you to sit, recruit! If you can't handle this, Kirschtein, then forget about joining the Military Police!"

Person after person was interrogated by Shadis, save the ones he skipped every now and then. But soon after scolding a boy for doing the salute wrong and a girl who was eating a potato, he came to me. I stood firmly with my arms crossed behind my back. Elix was a few rows behind me so I knew he could see what was going on.

"Who are you?" Shadis's voice sounded gruff and rough as he bent down ever so slightly to get a better look at my golden eyes.

I hit my hand to chest, giving a strong salute as we were taught. "Elena Dyantes, sir, from Shiganshina!"

"Another from Shiganshina, eh?" He stood straight up and he looked down at me. I wasn't entirely sure if I was supposed to maintain eye contact or keep looking straight forward. Others stared forward, so I decided that that was what I should do, too. "Why are you here, runt?"

"I aim to become better so I can join the Scout Regiment and help Humanity fight back!" My voice was soft and silvery1 against his strident2 one.  
>1. Silvery - a soft, light and pleasant sound or voice<br>2. Strident - a strident voice or sound is loud and unpleasant

He seemed to hesitate a little after I said Scout Regiment. "So you want to be Titan food, eh? Well, congratulations for you!" he voiced sarcastically. He put his hand on my head and made me turn around, signaling he was done with me.

My eyes glanced three rows back, meeting my brother's golden eyes. He offered me a quick smile and I returned him one but only vaguely. And it wasn't long before Shadis was standing in front of him.

"Who are you, huh?" he yelled in my brother's face. Shadis was standing right in front of Elix so I could no longer see him anymore.

"Elix Dyantes from Shiganshina, sir!"

"Dyantes, huh?" Shadis was quick to pick up on the last name. Shadis made a mental note to himself. "Are you here for the Scout Regiment, too, cadet?"

"Yes, sir!" Elix sounded so confident. He always did. He was never one for letting anybody control him or put him down.

"I guess your whole family is eager to be Titan fodder!" Shadis made a small joke.

"I guess so, sir!"

Shut up, Elix. Just shut up, I thought to myself.

* * *

><p>After taking roll call and being interrogated, we were left to wander the camp and get to know our fellow cadets. I tried to skip out on the last part, instead just wanting to find Elix in the mess of people and go away from others. Unfortunately, when I stumbled upon him he was surrounded by several dudes, chatting and talking away with them. I gave a soft sigh, shaking my head a little. Even though we're twins, our personalities aren't all that close.<p>

While Elix is very good at making friends, oftentimes he does so without even trying, I get very nervous around people I don't know if I have to converse with them. I don't often show more emotion than laughing about something, actually, and sometimes this makes people feel like I'm not easy to get along with. Au contraire3, I'm actually very easy to get along with as long as you start the conversation first and show that you would be glad to be friends with me. Another small difference between us is that I am very book smart and I enjoy having knowledge whereas Elix feels that he doesn't need to know much about health and 'smarty-pants-topics', as he used to call it when he was younger. Basically, as soon as he learned that I had a knack for health (and smarts), he decided he would leave it up to me. We both have high IQ scores (although mine is slightly higher.)  
>3. Au contraire - French meaning, 'on the contrary'<p>

But while Elix is an easy-going-people-person and I'm the shy turtle, there are things that we share in common that you wouldn't pick up on right away. I have just as great fighting skills as he does. The only difference is that I haven't fought many kids around Shiganshina. I normally don't leave the house very often by myself because my mother is often worried about me getting bullied or picked on or she's worried about me getting into trouble. Outside of school, I spend a lot of time with Elix although we know how to handle ourselves when we're not nearby each other. Before actually getting here, I wasn't sure if we were going to spend the next three years being all buddy-buddy or if we were going to slowly grow apart, but Elix made me promise him just a few days ago that I would always try to stay close to him when we're not in the middle of training and whatnot.

I figured that Elix would be alright with me walking away and finding him later since he knew how little a people-person I was, but as I turned to start walking in a different direction, I heard his voice call out to me.

"Elena! Come over here!" My head snapped in his direction and a curse or two skittered across my mind. He was waving me over and the boys who were around him were turned to face me. I gulped softly and started to approach him.

"Hi," I mumbled as the boys made a small path for me to get to Elix.

"Hey," a few replied to me. I looked up at Elix and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You wanted me?"

"Yeah! You have to meet our new friends." Our. Our. Why does he have to do that?

"Our. . .?"

"Yeah," he said with a natural smile. "This is Jean Kirschtein, Reiner and his friend Bertholdt, Connie Springer, Tomas and Marco. Guys, this is my younger sister, Elena."

"Twin," I said softly, looking up at Elix after the boys waved or bowed or nodded to me after he said their names. "I'm his twin sister. I'm only younger by a few minutes." I kept my gaze on the ground as I spoke and I heard Elix chuckling.

"Don't mind her," he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. "She's shy around new people. Give her time to get used to you and she'll be the sweetest girl you could ever know that's always proving you wrong no matter what you say!" I rolled my eyes and shook his hands off of my shoulders.

"Some brother you are," I mumble as I start to walk away. Elix grabs my wrist, still chuckling to himself as Jean and Reiner hide their chuckles.

"Oh come on, Elena! I'm joking, I'm joking. Lighten up a little, sis. You don't have to be so nervous."

"Yeah," one of the guys, Bertholdt, said. "We don't bite..."

"Speak for yourself," Reiner chuckled and gently patted his friend on his shoulder. Reiner stuck his hand out to me and, almost instantaneously, I felt as though I had shrunk four sizes. Both he and Bertholdt were really tall and I was really small compared to them and compared to Elix. One thing I didn't quite share with him was our height. I mean, Elix was only a few inches taller than me but still. I was feeling slightly intimidated as I shook his hand. Mine was so small compared to his but he seemed to be gentle enough shaking my hand.

I would like to believe that the only reason I was really being so nervous was because. . . well, there are so many people around me right now—not just the ones that are now my brother's friends. Even if people are around you who seem to have the same motives as you—in this case, to help Humanity—you never really know what their intentions are. I mean, I know I'm just naturally shy, but I'm very dutiful and when I give myself to a cause, I completely dedicate myself to it. I know that I have to open up to others here so that I can get ahead to help humanity and not let them have doubts in me, but...

I've seen a lot that humans have hidden away inside of them. When you're like me. . . well, it's not that hard to realize that you have to be careful around humans. You shouldn't necessarily put your faith in them, but when you're nonhuman like me and dedicated to helping them, you kind of learn that you need to be someone that they can rely on.

As this thought runs through my head, I tell myself that I have to be ready to break through my shell in just a few days. I can't let my shyness hold me back from getting to where I need to be.

"Well, nice to meet you, Reiner, and everybody else," I said softly, deciding that if I was going to force my way out of my shell I was going to take it one step at a time and not make it so sudden. I turned to look at Elix. "I'm going to go find Armin, Eren and Mikasa, okay?" He stared at me for a few seconds before giving me a curt nod, then I returned my gaze to his—our—new friends. "Don't assume that whatever he says about me is automatically true, okay. . .?" I asked, receiving nods from the boys there.

I turned and walked away, keeping my eyes on the ground until I was a few feet away. Then I started to look around for the little trio.

It didn't take long to find them. They didn't notice me right away but Armin saw me first. He called out to me as Elix had done and I made my way to them with a soft smile. "Hey, guys," I mumbled almost under my breath. They heard me and returned the greeting. "You ready for dinner? It's almost time, isn't it?" The sun was setting, leaving blue and orange streaks to dance across the sky.

"Yeah," Armin said, nodding his head, slowly. "Are you and Elix going to sit with us?"

"Well, I would like to if it isn't a problem. However, Elix has made some new friends, so they might all end up sitting together instead."

"Well, you can still join us," Eren said. I turned to him and gave him a soft smile, nodding my head in thanks.

I hadn't met Eren and Mikasa until after I got off the boat that day. It was Armin who was to thank for helping me make two new friends. He quickly found Elix and me with Eren and Mikasa only a few feet behind. Eren and Mikasa were semi-familiar with Elix, but not with me, of course. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Slowly, I did end up becoming semi-good friends with them and over time.

"Thanks, Eren. I really appreciate that."

* * *

><p>Well, hey everyone! It's me, Emma! There's chapter one, I hope you guys like it. If you do, let me know! And just in case you go around on different sites, here's some information you should really be wary of: I am posting this on more than just . I have decided thus far that I will be posting this FanFiction story on Quotev and as well as maybe eventually and . Maybe some other sites if I can find others, too, because I want to put this story out there for others to enjoy and there are so many people who don't come on FanFiction!<p>

If you have ideas for the story or if you want to drop me a comment, go for it :) dropping a comment or subscribing to the story (or both) can really make an author feel good. I would also appreciate it if you left a comment telling me how you think the story's going (as it goes along, if you stay with it, of course.) So far I've written one (somewhat) successful Attack on Titan story (on Quotev only for now) called I'll Fight and it was an OC x Levi kind of story. I plan on making it into a sequel, and that means that Part I of it is done. Quotev says there are 189 pages in it, so if you want to read it, you can find it on Quotev because links don't seem to work on FanFiction. :) / :(

Anyways, I don't own Attack on Titan or any pictures that I used on Quotev or any other site that I decide to post it on. I decided not to post the pictures here because pictures here kind of throw things off, in my opinion. Anyways, all rights go to their respective owners. I do, however, own the OCs used here and the story itself. No copying! :P

But, yeah, I hope you enjoy the story and stick around to see where it goes! Sorry for any grammar and/or spelling errors. I will eventually get around to fixing them as I find them.


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